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We're an Australian homeschooling family. We're passionate about the educator Charlotte Mason, the Ambleside Online curriculum, MEP maths, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia, Japanese aesthetics, French language, Asian travel, children's literature, our garden, and living a peaceful life in the country.

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Charlotte Mason advocated a little foreign language every day. This quote is from Home Education and talks about this:

The daily French lesson is that which should not be omitted. That childrenshould learn French orally, by listening to and repeating French words andphrases; that they should begin so young that the difference of accent does notstrike them, but they repeat the new French word all the same as if it wereEnglish and use it as freely; that they should learn a few - two or three, fiveor six - new French words daily, and that, at the same time, the old wordsshould be kept in use - are points to be considered more fully hereafter: in themeantime, it is so important to keep tongue and ear familiar with Frenchvocables, that not a lesson should be omitted. The French lesson may, however,be made to fit in with the spirit of the other out-of-door occupations; thehalf-dozen words may be the parts - leaves, branches, bark, trunk of a tree, orthe colours of the flowers, or the movements of bird, cloud, lamb, child; infact, the new French words should be but another form of expression for theideas that for the time fill the child's mind.

We've been teaching Jemimah French in this way since she was a toddler.

We use a variety of media - good French picture books, folk songs and DVD's being among those. One of the most useful has been a series of 'French karaoke' videos of various French childrens songs created by Angelaying and posted on You Tube . We're currently learning Cadet Rouselle - take a look:

Generally it is really difficult to learn the words to a foreign song - I have trouble enough learning the lyrics to English ones - but these little videos with the words down the bottom make this much easier. They're cute too - Jemimah loves them!

Another wonderful You Tube addition to our day was L'alphabet en chantant:

2
comments:

I was making an attempt at 5 words a week, or thereabouts... and I kept losing track! It's no drama to introduce them, it's the keeping them in 'circulation' that I have trouble with! Any pointers?Also, any recommendations of 'good French picture books'? We have a collection, but they're all translations of English favourites, and sadly, the appeal doesn't always translate:-( (But I didn't feel confident at trusting to _my_ French for selecting anything else!)